Madame Frankenstein #4 – Comic Review

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Dr Vincent takes his creation, Gail, out for an excursion to the fairground: what could possibly go wrong?

At first everything is just a little bit overwhelming for her, like a child visiting a city for the first time but soon she is taken in by the wonders that Vincent shows to her. They skip through the fairground and head towards the side show, where Gail is in awe of the fire breather Vesuvius. Vincent however is more interested in the Burlesque show where he insinuates that Gail can learn a lot from the women on show.

Vesuvius makes contact with Gail after observing her in front of his stage and expresses more than a passing interest in her however her creator whisks her away to a speak easy for more ‘life lessons’. It’s in the drinking house where things take a turn for the worse and Gail is over come with an uncontrollable jealousy when Vincent mingles with another woman. She lashes out and it takes a group of strong men to stop her onslaught. When she is down, on the floor and helpless, the fairies return to her.

So far this comic has been plodding along but in this issue Jamie S. Rich has finally started to up the pace of the narrative. When Gail get’s out into the world and the story focuses on her instead of her creator it suddenly becomes rich and interesting with some character development that has been lacking previously. Gail has some conflicting feelings and in the final sequence of this issue she loses control of herself and acts violently out of instinct, something which disturbs her. Jamie S. Rich fills out the story with some interesting characters who all serve to illustrate Gail’s sense of awe.

Vincent, on the other hand, is painted as nothing more than a self serving letch and you wonder why he has been the central character for the previous three issues.

Also, the change in narrative pace and setting gives Megan Levens a chance to illustrate some interesting people and places. This allows her art to shine for possibly the first time in this comic. Vesuvius is especially well portrayed with the contrasting white fire and pure black shadows. There is a sense of movement and fluidity present that has been lacking in previously and it’s a shame that it has taken so long to get to this point

If you’ve managed to stick with this for the last few months you’ll find this issue rewarding and it provides hope for the remainder of the series.

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